Climate Tech Startup Ecobot Saves Wetlands
The Ecobot app is changing the way people interact with their wetlands — and building climate resilience one user at a time.
By Mickey Snowdon, Communications Liaison at The Collider.
The US Climate Resilience Toolkit defines “resilience” as “the capacity of a community, business, or natural environment to prevent, withstand, respond to, and recover from a disruption.” Wetlands are critical to building climate resilience in that they protect people, infrastructure, and assets from stormwater during an extreme weather event, reduce the impact of sea level rise, and sequester carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere — all increasingly vital defense benefits as storms become stronger and more severe, and flooding increases across the world.
Wetlands also filter water by removing sediment. As water passes through the rocks, grasses, and other plants which make up the wetlands landscape, excess sediment is prevented from entering streams and rivers. This cleaner water benefits both flora and fauna that rely on it for sustenance, including humans.
In short, wetlands help humans and ecosystems withstand and adapt to a changing climate.
Ecobot, a mobile application created by Collider members Jeremy Schewe and Lee Lance, is helping wetland scientists and ecologists gather data on wetlands across the United States 50 percent more efficiently than traditional methods. By connecting this data to planners and geospatial ecologists working on resilience models, Ecobot is building climate resilience for future generations.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 1972 Clean Water Act specifies that anytime a construction project may impact any waters of the US (WOTUS) — in this case, streams or wetlands — a wetland and/or stream ecologist must assess the potential impact of said project on local streams and/or wetlands and ensure that the project meets all federal and state regulatory parameters.
The first step that a wetland ecologist takes is delineating — or determining the boundaries of — the wetlands of the proposed project site. This has always been a cumbersome task; observations are usually recorded via pen and paper, research is performed in an office afterward, and the consultant ultimately transcribes his or her findings into a final report to submit to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to make a determination as to whether the wetland would fall under the USACE’s jurisdiction.
Ecobot saves its users an average of up to half of their time by allowing them to instantly record their observations in the app and perform any necessary research in real time through their auto-lookup tool, which connects users to their comprehensive database of USDA, EPA, NRCS, USACE, and US FWS data sources. For example, if a wetlands scientist observes a Sweetgum tree in their sampling area, they can use an the in-app vegetation auto-lookup function to determine where in the soil moisture regime the Sweetgum tends to grow naturally. Most of these plant species will fall somewhere on a scale of aquatic wetland plants to xeric upland species. This ranged scale helps scientists identify wetlands based on the observable plant species in a given study area.
What makes the Ecobot software so prized by its customers is that it was developed specifically from within the industry. Schewe, Ecobot’s co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, says he understands these needs from years of direct experience. As a nearly 20-year veteran of the ecological services industry, he knows exactly what tools to include in the app to streamline the wetland delineation process.
Through his background, Schewe says he realized there was huge potential for improvement in how wetland observations are made and processed. “I thought to myself how crazy it was that this 50-year-old industry was still using pen and paper. Thankfully I was not so entrenched in the industry to accept that there was only one way to delineate wetlands.”
Schewe says partnering with Ecobot’s co-founder and CEO, Lee Lance, who specializes in workflow-centered application development and software, brought the Ecobot app to the next level. “He had all the pieces in place to successfully launch something like this,” Schewe says.
Ecobot is specifically designed based on scientists’ existing working protocol and follows the Lean Startup “build-measure-learn” feedback loop model, meaning that every aspect of the app is field-tested and assessed so that it is continuously being improved. Other ecosystem services apps can be clunky and more of a headache than the traditional pen-and-paper route, but Ecobot is all about creating efficiency.
Most Ecobot users are typically botanists, wetland scientists, and ecologists, however other groups and individuals, like the USACE and county agents, are also using it. Schewe says that because the company is workflow-focused, their plan is to refine the app as much as possible by honing in on a specific service area until it’s as close to perfect as possible before branching out into other areas.
But Schewe says he’s already noticed that people are also using Ecobot as a botany tool to look up the names of plants, which he is excited about.
“If we can create technology that gets young people in touch with their natural world, then we’re providing an opportunity for more people to experience the interconnectedness of nature, and that’s a beautiful thing.”
In the New Year, Ecobot will release a new version of the app called Ecobot Lite, made specifically for citizen scientists and laypeople to get involved in their ecosystems first-hand. Schewe says this version of the app could attract new customers who otherwise wouldn’t use Ecobot. “We’re excited about the potential Ecobot Lite has to build a community of outdoor enthusiasts who may not be immersed in the field of ecology, but still care deeply about their environment,” Schewe says.
This community-based approach to caring for wetlands comes at a critical time; climate-induced changes such as rising sea levels, increased drought, and more severe storms can alter and diminish wetlands. Construction can also threaten these ecosystems, and increased stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces can hinder the ability of wetlands to store carbon dioxide, and even release stored greenhouse gases.
In fact, one study shows that the world has lost over half of its wetlands since 1700, primarily to agriculture and development.
According to Lance:
“Ecobot fills a critical need as environmental consultants work to enable responsible economic development while protecting valuable natural resources. Wetlands affect everyone, whether they realize it or not. They sequester carbon dioxide, filter water, provide habitat for an abundance of biodiversity, and are the foremost step in building climate resilience.”
The company has plans to expand their operations after receiving over $700,000 in additional seed funding at the end of 2019. They plan to hire at least a few more employees and are working with GIS giant Esri to provide interactive mapping for field users, which he says the company plans to unveil in the Spring of 2020.
The Ecobot app is now available publicly on the App Store. Look for Ecobot Lite on the App Store in 2020.
